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{{short description|Personal affirmation of a statement}}{{other uses}}
{{redirect|Sworn In|the band|Sworn In (band)}}
[[File:Sec of State Kissinger.png|thumb|[[Henry Kissinger]] places his hand on a [[Hebrew Bible]] as he takes the [[oath of office]] as [[Secretary of State (United States)|Secretary of State]], 1973.]]
Traditionally, an '''oath''' (from [[Old English|Anglo-Saxon]] ''{{lang|ang|[[:wikt:aþ|āþ]]}}'', also a '''plight''') is a [[utterance|statement]] of [[fact]] or a [[promise]] taken by a [[Sacred|sacrality]] as a sign of [[Truth|verity]]. A common legal substitute for those who object to making sacred oaths is to give an [[Affirmation (law)|affirmation]] instead. Nowadays, even when there is no notion of sanctity involved, certain promises said out loud in ceremonial or juridical purpose are referred to as oaths. "To [[:wikt:swear|swear]]" is a [[verb]] used to describe the taking of an oath; to make a solemn [[vow]].
==Etymology==
The word comes from [[Old English|Anglo-Saxon]] ''{{lang|ang|[[:wikt:aþ|āþ]]}}'': "judicial swearing, solemn appeal to deity in witness of truth or a promise"; from [[Proto-Germanic language|Proto-Germanic]] ''[[:wikt:Reconstruction:Proto-Germanic/aiþaz|*aiþaz]]''; from [[Proto-Indo-European]] ''*oi-to-'': "an oath". Common to Celtic and Germanic, possibly a loan-word from one to the other, but the history is obscure and it may be non-Indo-European, in reference to careless invocations of divinity, from the late 12th century.<ref>{{Cite web|url= https://www.etymonline.com/word/oath#etymonline_v_2402|title=oath (n.) |date=17 March 2019|website= Etym. online}}</ref>
==Historical development as a legal concept==
[[File:Le Serment du Jeu de paume.jpg|thumb|"[[Tennis Court Oath]]" by [[Jacques-Louis David]].]]
{{multiple image
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| image1    = Juramento da Regência Trina.jpg
| caption1  = The oath of the provisional [[Triumvirate|triumviral]] regents of the [[Empire of Brazil]] in the [[Old Cathedral of Rio de Janeiro|Imperial Chapel]] in 1831, during a period known as the [[Regency period (Empire of Brazil)|Regency period]].
| image2    = Juramento Isabel.jpg
| caption2  = [[Isabel, Princess Imperial of Brazil|Isabel, Princess Imperial]] takes oath as regent of the Empire of Brazil before the [[Federal Senate (Brazil)#History|Imperial Senate]], {{Circa|1870}}.
}}
=== Jewish tradition ===
The concept of oaths is deeply rooted within [[Judaism]]. It is found in [[Book of Genesis|Genesis]] 8:21, when God swears that he will "never again curse the ground because of man and never again smite every living thing". This repetition of the term ''never again'' is explained by [[Rashi]], the pre-eminent biblical commentator, as serving as an oath, citing the [[Talmud]] Shavous 36a for this ruling.<ref>Metsudah Chumash and Rashi, KTAV Publishing House, 1991. page 88</ref>
The first personage in the biblical tradition to take an oath is held to be [[Eliezer]], the chief servant of [[Abraham]], when the latter requested of the former that he not take a wife for his son [[Isaac]] from the daughters of Canaan, but rather from among Abraham's own family.
The foundational text for oath making is in [[Book of Numbers|Numbers]] 30:2: "When a man voweth a vow unto the Lord, or sweareth an oath to bind his soul with a bond, he shall not break his word; he shall do according to all that proceedeth out of his mouth." According to the Rabbis, a [[neder]] (usually translated as "vow") refers to the object, a ''shâmar'' (usually translated as "oath") to the person. The passage distinguishes between a ''neder'' and a ''shvua'', an important distinction between the two in [[Halakha]]: a ''neder'' changes the status of some external thing, while a ''shvua'' initiates an internal change in the one who swears the oath.
=== Roman tradition ===
In the [[Ancient Rome|Roman]] tradition, oaths were sworn upon ''[[Iuppiter Lapis]]'' or the Jupiter Stone located in the [[Temple of Jupiter Optimus Maximus|Temple of Jupiter]], [[Capitoline Hill]]. ''Iuppiter Lapis'' was held in the Roman tradition to be an [[Oath Stone]], an aspect of Jupiter in his role as divine law-maker responsible for order and used principally for the investiture of the oathtaking of office.
According to Cyril Bailey, in "The Religion of Ancient Rome" (1907):
{{Quote| text=We have, for instance, the sacred stone (''[[Silex#Archaic and foreign uses|silex]]'') which was preserved in the temple of Iuppiter on the Capitol, and was brought out to play a prominent part in the ceremony of treaty-making. The [[fetial]], who on that occasion represented the Roman people, at the solemn moment of the oath-taking, struck the sacrificial pig with the ''silex'', saying as he did so, "Do thou, [[Jupiter (mythology)|Diespiter]], strike the Roman people as I strike this pig here to-day, and strike them the more, as thou art greater and stronger." Here no doubt the underlying notion is not merely symbolical, but in origin the stone is itself the god, an idea which later religion expressed in the cult-title specially used in this connection, ''Iuppiter Lapis''.<ref>{{cite book |last=Bailey |first=Cyril |date=1907 |title=The Religion of Ancient Rome |url=http://www.gutenberg.org/files/18564/18564-h/18564-h.htm#CHAPTER_II |location=London |publisher=Archibald Constable & Co. Ltd. |page=7 |access-date=2015-08-18}}</ref>}}
The punisher of broken oaths was the [[Hell|infernal]] deity [[Orcus]].
=== Hindu tradition ===
[[File:Bheeshma oath by RRV.jpg|thumb|right|Devarata taking his ''bhishama pratigya'']]
In [[Hindu epics]], like the [[Ramayana]] and the [[Mahabharata]], oaths, called ''pratigya'', are taken seriously. It is mentioned that people would give up their lives, but not break a vow. Due to this, King [[Dasharatha]] took an oath for his Queen [[Kaikeyi]] (on her maid, [[Manthara]]'s insistence) and thus had to exile his favorite son, Lord [[Rama]] along with his wife Devi [[Sita]] and brother [[Lakshmana]] for fourteen years in the forest.
In the Mahabharata, [[Bhishma|Devrata]] took an oath of [[celibacy]] so that [[Satyavati]]'s father would marry her to Devrata's father, King [[Shantanu]]. He also took an oath to not rule the [[Kuru Kingdom|kingdom]] and remain loyal to the king, who would be a descendant of Satyavati. Thus, Devavrata got the name ''Bhishma'', which means someone who has taken a terrible oath. Many others also took oaths that they fulfilled.
=== Greek tradition ===
[[Walter Burkert]] has shown that since [[Lycurgus of Athens]] (d. 324 BCE), who held that "it is the oath which holds democracy together", religion, morality and political organization had been linked by the oath, and the oath and its prerequisite altar had become the basis of both civil and criminal, as well as international law.<ref>Burkert, ''Greek Religion'', trans. Raffan, Harvard University Press (1985), 250ff.</ref>
In traditional Greek folk songs, such as The Dead Brother's Song, the significance of the oath is highlighted. The power of an oath is such that it transcends death, as the deceased brother arises from the grave to fulfill his oath to his mother.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Πολίτης|first=Λίνος|title=Ιστορία της Νεοελληνικής Λογοτεχνίας|publisher=Μορφωτικό Ίδρυμα Εθνικής Τραπέζης|year=2002|location=Αθήνα}}</ref>
===Christian tradition===
Various religious groups have objected to the taking of oaths, most notably the [[Religious Society of Friends]] (Quakers) and [[Anabaptism|Anabaptist]] groups, like [[Mennonite]]s, [[Amish]], [[Hutterite]]s and [[Schwarzenau Brethren]]. This is principally based on Matthew 5:34–37,<ref> {{Bibleverse||Matthew|5:34–37}}</ref> the [[Antithesis of the Law]]. Here, Christ is reported as having said: "I say to you: '[[Swear not at all]]{{'"}}. [[James the Just]] stated in 5:12<ref>{{Bibleverse|James|5:12}}</ref> "Above all, my brothers, do not swear—not by heaven or by earth or by anything else. Let your 'Yes' be yes, and your 'No', no, or you will be condemned." Beyond this scriptural authority, Quakers place importance on being truthful at all times, so the testimony opposing oaths springs from a view that "taking legal oaths implies a double standard of truthfulness"<ref>''Faith and Practice'', Baltimore Yearly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends (1988) p. 19.</ref> suggesting that truthfulness in legal contexts is somehow more important than truthfulness in non-legal contexts and that truthfulness in those other contexts is therefore somehow less important.
Not all [[Christianity|Christians]] interpret this reading as forbidding all types of oaths, however. Opposition to oath-taking among some groups of Christian caused many problems for these groups throughout their history. [[Quaker]]s were frequently imprisoned because of their refusal to swear [[loyalty oath]]s. Testifying in court was also difficult; [[George Fox]], Quakers' founder, famously challenged a judge who had asked him to swear, saying that he would do so once the judge could point to any [[Bible]] passage where Jesus or his apostles took oaths — the judge could not, but this did not allow Fox to escape punishment. Legal reforms from the 18th century onwards mean that everyone in the [[United Kingdom]] now has the right to make a solemn [[Affirmation (law)|affirmation]] instead of an oath. The [[United States]] has permitted affirmations since it was founded; it is explicitly mentioned in the [[United States Constitution|Constitution]]. Only President [[Franklin Pierce]] has chosen to affirm rather than swear at his inauguration.
As late as 1880, [[Charles Bradlaugh]] was denied a seat as an MP in the [[Parliament of the United Kingdom]] because of his professed [[atheism]] as he was judged unable to swear the [[Oath of Allegiance (UK)|Oath of Allegiance]] in spite of his proposal to swear the oath as a "matter of form".{{cn|date=March 2023}}
=== Islamic tradition ===
Islam takes the fulfillment of oaths extremely seriously, as directed by the Qur'an:
{{quote|God does not hold you responsible for the mere utterance of oaths; He holds you responsible for your actual intentions. If you violate an oath, you shall atone by feeding ten poor people from the same food you offer to your own family, or clothing them, or by freeing a slave. If you cannot afford this, then you shall fast three days. This is the atonement for violating the oaths that you swore to keep. You shall fulfill your oaths. God thus explains His revelations to you, that you may be appreciative.|Quran [[Al-Ma'ida|Chapter 5]]: [[Āyah|Verse]] 89}}
=== Germanic tradition ===
{{Further|Symbel|Feudalism}}
[[Germanic tribes|Germanic]] [[warrior culture]] was significantly based on oaths of fealty.
A prose passage inserted in the eddic poem ''[[Helgakviða Hjörvarðssonar]]'' relates: Hedin was coming home alone from the forest one [[Yule]]-eve, and found a [[troll]]-woman; she rode on a wolf, and had snakes in place of a bridle. She asked Hedin for his company. "Nay," said he. She said, "Thou shalt pay for this at the ''bragarfull''." That evening the great vows were taken; the [[Sonargöltr|sacred boar]] was brought in, the men laid their hands thereon, and took their vows at the ''bragarfull''. Hedin vowed that he would have Sváva, Eylimi's daughter, the beloved of his brother Helgi; then such great grief seized him that he went forth on wild paths southward over the land, and found Helgi, his brother.
Such Norse traditions are directly parallel to the "bird oaths" of late medieval France, such as the [[voeux du faisan]] (oath on the pheasant) or the (fictional) [[voeux du paon]] (oath on the peacock). Huizinga, ''[[The Autumn of the Middle Ages]]'' (ch. 3); Michel Margue, "Vogelgelübde" am Hof des Fürsten. Ritterliches Integrationsritual zwischen Traditions- und Gegenwartsbezug (14. – 15. Jahrhundert)
=== Modern law ===
{{redirect|Under oath|the American rock band|Underoath}}
[[File:Officer Natalie Corona swearing-in.jpg|thumb|upright|A new police officer in the US being sworn in, 2018.]]
In the modern law, oaths are made by a witness to a court of law before giving testimony and usually by a newly appointed government officer to the people of a state before taking office. However, in both of those cases, an [[Affirmation (law)|affirmation]] can usually be replaced with a written statement, only if the author swears the statement is true. This statement is called an ''[[affidavit]]''. This is in contrast to a [[statutory declaration]], where no sworn oath or affirmation is involved. The oath given to support an affidavit is frequently administered by a [[notary]], who will certify the giving of the oath by affixing her or his seal to the document. Willfully delivering a false oath (or affirmation) is the crime of [[perjury]].
There are some places where there is a confusion between the "oath" and other statements or promises. For example, the current [[Olympic Oath]] is really a [[Promise|pledge]], not properly an oath, since there is only a promise but there is no appeal to a sacred witness. Oaths may also be confused with [[vow]]s, but vows are really just a particular kind of an oath.
== Hand gestures ==
[[File:Anjala.vaakuna.svg|thumb|"Hand on oath" used as a [[Charge (heraldry)|charge]] on the [[coat of arms]] of [[Anjala]], Finland.]]
Instead of, or in addition to, holding one's hand upon an object of ceremonial importance, it can be customary for a person swearing an oath to hold a raised hand in a specific gesture. Most often the right hand is raised. This custom has been explained with reference to medieval practices of branding palms.
===Schwurhand===
{{main|Schwurhand}}
===Serbian custom===
{{main|Three-finger salute (Serbian)}}
===International customs===
The [[Scout Sign]] can be made while giving the [[Scout Promise]]. In ''[[Scouting for Boys]]'' the movement's founder, [[Robert Baden-Powell]], instructed: "While taking this oath the scout will stand, holding his right hand raised level with his shoulder, palm to the front, thumb resting on the nail of the digitus minimus (little finger) and the other three fingers upright, pointing upwards."<ref name="SfB">{{cite book|last=Robert Baden-Powell|title=Scouting for Boys|publisher=Horace Cox|year=1908|edition=Part I|location=Windsor House, Bream's Buildings, London E.C.|page=40|author-link=Robert Baden-Powell, 1st Baron Baden-Powell|title-link=Scouting for Boys}}</ref>
== Types of oaths ==
[[File:Lyndon B. Johnson taking the oath of office, November 1963.jpg|thumb|right|Shortly after US president John F. Kennedy was shot, Lyndon Johnson was sworn in as the new president on board Air Force One]]
* [[Hippocratic Oath]], an oath historically taken by physicians and other healthcare professionals swearing to practice medicine honestly.
** [[Veterinarian's Oath]], an oath taken by [[veterinarian]]s as practitioners of [[veterinary medicine]] in a manner similar to the Hippocratic Oath.
* [[Oath of allegiance]], an oath whereby a subject or citizen acknowledges a duty of allegiance and swears loyalty to monarch or country.
* [[Oath of citizenship]], an oath taken by immigrants that officially naturalizes immigrants into citizens.
* [[Oath of office]], an oath or affirmation a person takes before undertaking the duties of an office.
**[[Juror's oath]], an oath taken by jurors at the beginning of jury selection or trial
* [[Pauper's oath]], a sworn statement or oath by a person that he or she is completely without any money or property.
* [[Military oath]], delivered on enlistment into the military service of the state military.
* [[Decisory oath]], an oath that conclusively resolves a factual dispute
==Notable oaths in history and fiction==
* The oath of [[Bhishma]] in Hindu culture.
* [[Hittite military oath]], a Hittite text on two cuneiform tablets.
* [[Ironclad Oath]], promoted by Radical Republicans and opposed by President Abraham Lincoln during the American Civil War.
* [[Lwów Oath]], by Polish king John II Casimir.
* [[Oath Against Modernism]], required of clergy and others in the Catholic Church from 1910 until 1967.
* [[Oaths in Freemasonry]].
* [[Oath More Judaico]] or Jewish Oath, rooted in antisemitism and accompanied by certain ceremonies.
* [[Oaths of Strasbourg]], a military pact made in 842.
* [[Hitler Oath]], sworn by German soldiers of the [[Wehrmacht]] and the German civil service, pledging allegiance to [[Adolf Hitler]] personally.
* [[Omertà]], a Southern Italian code of silence and code of honor and conduct.
* [[Scout Oath]] or Scout Promise.
* [[Tennis Court Oath]], taken on 20 June 1789 by members of the French Third Estate.
* [[Oath of Fëanor]], in the fiction of J. R. R. Tolkien.
* [[Oath of the Peach Garden]], a fictional event in the 14th century Chinese historical novel ''Romance of the Three Kingdoms'' by Luo Guanzhong.
* The [[Baljuna Covenant]], an oath sworn by [[Genghis Khan]] and a small group of companions
==See also==
{{Portal|Law}}
* ''[[ACLU of N.C. & Syidah Matteen v. State of North Carolina]]'' a court case in a state of the United States about taking oaths by different scriptures. The results have reversed several times.
* [[Australasian Police Multicultural Advisory Bureau]] has several publications for Australia dealing with multi-faith issues and ''[[A Practical Reference to Religious Diversity for Operational Police and Emergency Services]]'' covers oaths as well as many other topics (in review as of 12/2/2006 but the [https://web.archive.org/web/20050619070219/http://www.apmab.gov.au/guide/religious2/religious_guide.pdf 2nd Edition] is available.)
* [[Confirmation]]
* [[Ephebic Oath]]
* [[Performativity]]
* [[So help me God]]
* [[Statutory declaration]]
* [[Sworn declaration]]
* [[Vow]]
==Notes==
{{reflist}}
==References==
* Bailey, Cyril (1907). [http://www.gutenberg.org/files/18564/18564-h/18564-h.htm ''The Religion of Ancient Rome'']. London, UK: Archibald Constable & Co. Ltd. (Source: [[Project Gutenberg]]. Accessed: March 16, 2011)
==External links==
{{wikiquote|Oaths}}
{{Wiktionary|oath}}
{{Commons category|Oaths}}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20100613085537/http://al-mawrid.org/pages/browse_art_ques_eng.php?cid=353 Oaths in the Qur'an]
* [http://www.ndcourts.com/court/rules/ndroc/rule6.10.htm Courtroom oaths] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070911075208/http://www.ndcourts.com/court/rules/ndroc/rule6.10.htm |date=2007-09-11 }} from the [[North Dakota]] Supreme Court website (jury oath, witness oath and so on)
* [http://www.archives2005.ghazali.net/html/faith_leaders_support.html North Carolina faith leaders supporting Quran oath] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070304015638/http://www.archives2005.ghazali.net/html/faith_leaders_support.html |date=2007-03-04 }}
* [http://volokh.com/archives/archive_2006_11_26-2006_12_02.shtml#1164997373 Comments about ''John Quincy Adams' Oath of Office'']
* [https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p003wtk7 The Oath], BBC Radio 4 discussion with Alan Sommerstein, Paul Cartledge & Mary Beard (''In Our Time'', Jan. 5, 2006)
{{Authority control}}
[[Category:Oaths| ]]
[[Category:Legal history]]
[[Category:Legal terminology]]